Dragon Age: Origins

To be honest, I wasn't sure if  Dragon Age: Origins was going to be as good as the other Bioware games I had played so long ago. I fondly remember being the good jedi in Knights of the Old Republic and all the tough decisions that I had to make that would influence the story for better or for worse. The idea of the player controlling the story soon caught my interest, and before I knew it I was hooked. Although that was the main element that drew me to Dragon Age, I found so much more to admire.

 Dragon Age: Origins is an RPG party-combat game. It has a convenient pause function that allows you to stop battle and issue commands to one of your 4 members and commence on your command. Although you can only have 3 party members with your character at a time, you can have far more in the group you can choose from. One thing that I really enjoyed was the party inventory that all the characters shared so that you could equip them easier and faster. The races include elves, humans, and dwarves. You can either start off as a mage, warrior, or rogue and then eventually specialize into specific roles in your class.

For me, the greatest part of the game is how the player can affect the story through even the smallest of decisions. Like previous Bioware titles, there's so many ways to influence the people around you to cause surprising events that otherwise could not be possible. This could range from different quests to having different party members. Even the type of character you make in the beginning of the game can completely change how it starts off, and even how other people view you later in the game. Another thing that really caught my attention was the detail to relationships in the game. When in camp, you can talk to any of your party members that often branch off into interesting conversations that may even lead to new quests.

The action is great. Most of the time gameplay is really hectic, but in a good way that keeps you on your feet. Since you can control any character at a time, its almost certain that you're going to have to take advantage of it. For instance, I made my character a strict DPS (Damage Per Second) dual-wielding warrior that didn't have much health. I often had to take control of my healing mage and make sure that I kept my main character alive while he did the most of the damage. While most of the battles seem quite normal, there are some that are quite epic in scale, or so they seem. Overall, the gameplay mechanics are quite enjoyable.

Even though it has great graphics on the PC, places like the eleven forest and Denerim are most notable for having an unfinished feeling about them and poor texturing. However, it's not such an eyesore that would draw you away from a lot of the great things the game has to offer.

 If there's anything that Bioware is known for, it's for making quality RPG's, and Dragon Age: Origins is no exception.